"If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead & rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing." Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), arakian diriwayatkan oleh Tok Rimau the Sifoo

Jual Roti

My Husband&Friends' Venture

My Husband's 2007 Book

About Me

A keen observer of just about anything under the sun. An avid fan of husband’s fight for justice. A fervent worker who is passionate about her work. An affectionate human being who adores her cats, and loves her family & life to the fullest... and oh, the fullmoon too!

You have the power to persuade and influence others.You're the type of person who can turn a whole room around.The potential for great leadership is there, as long as you don't abuse it.Always remember, you have a lot more power over people than you might think!

Sunday, December 31, 2006

I actually put this piece together on the 20th Dec. 2006, the day Abang Bitee was supposed to be under the knife, thinking that I would amuse him with my stories of him once he's better. Unfortunately...

(Even as I’m writing this, I’m quite amazed myself that I actually can still remember his IC number… 1*2**54!!! Omygawd! I can’t be so silly into him dulu, can I???!)

Anyways.

Aku ingat lagi, one day masa Abg Bitee was sitting for one of his SPM papers (Geography, I think), he was called out of the Dewan to be informed that his father had passed away. My kakak-kakak senior told me how devastated he was... menangis-nangis sambil cuba habiskan paper, and then went back home directly after, but came back at noon for the afternoon sitting.

So, ladies & gentlemen, I could say that it was Abg Bitee who first exposed me to Architecture and inspired me to take up the course.

We wrote to each other dari aku Form 3 kat MRSM Jasin sampailah aku buat 1st Year A-Levels di Cheras. Ahh, the old mode of communication. Dulu tak da hp, mah. Apatah lagi email. APATAH LAGI blog. heh. But mind you during that period, we never spoke to each other even on the phone, let alone keluar jumpa ramai-ramai, you know!

Masa Abg Bitee graduated, he sent me a photo, him donning a baju melayu hitam with his sijil at hand. I can still remember that photo. Heck, I still keep that photo! Cuma nak cari kat mana je. But to this very day, I’m still not sure why he sent me the photo… I presume he wanted to encourage me to achieve what he’s just achieved, kot. Of course back then instead of feeling encouraged, aku rasa perasan sebab dia kasi aku gambar dia tanpa diminta…hahahaha.

After that visit to Edinburgh, I never get to see, write apatah lagi talk to him. Some says a year after, he had study problems in uni and went back to Malaysia for good by summertime. And another told me that back in Malaysia, he worked with his brother, and then got the tumour. Brain tumour.

However, nine years after his Edinburgh trip, at the end of September 2003, he sent me a wedding invitation. For the life of me, I couldn’t recall how he had my present home address in Bangi since I’ve stopped writing to him before we moved to the present home. It was a really really nice surprise, though! His Do was to be on the 5th of October.

I couldn’t make it to his Do though ‘coz I didn’t have anybody to go with. My date back then resided in K.K., so, takkan aku nak pi sorang-sorang, kan?

(9 days after that, my date passed away in K.K. Another tragedy; another story…)

It was also from the wedding invitation that I got his phone number in which I sms-ed him hello. And eversince that, I never missed wishing him Happy Birthday come 1st March.

9 months after that, in June 2004, he sms-ed and announced that he got a baby girl… Damia-smthn.

A year after, somewhere in mid 2005, he sms-ed me hello and I told him the good news: I’m about to be married, and to his surprise, to his favourite cartoonist pula tu!!! Tak sangka budak dompot tembam ni ada jugak orang yang nak rupanya, ya. Heh heh.

He was so ecstatic that he actually made it over to my wedding in Bangi, all the way from Tampin. But instead of personally coming over to my room to congratulate me, he sent in his lovely Missus, Kak Myra, and baby daughter to take photos with me. I still remember when Kak Myra first came into my room with her toddler in her hand and said to me, “Akak wife Bitee. Dia suruh masuk ambil gambar dengan Faz. Dia ada tunggu kat luar. Dia kirim salam banyak-banyak!”

I was devastated. I knew immediately that he needed urgent help with his tumour. Then I had to tell him the heartbreaking news: that the place was raided in mid-October. Nevertheless, I promised to inform him immediately once the place is reopened.

Sedih. That entire day, I felt so… ralat.

***

On that 20th December 2006, the morning operation was postponed to later that night. The next day, I sms-ed Kak Myra and tanya khabar. Alhamdulillah, Kak Myra kata, everything went well as hoped and prayed for.

On my way to Penang last Friday the 29th, I reminded Abang to find out further on the Pusat Rawatan Islam so that I could inform and possibly help Abg Bitee and Kak Myra.

Little did I know what was stored for me the next day on the 30th. On the ferry to the mainland, I received a call at 5.14pm from “SBT”, but instead of Abg Bitee, it was Kak Myra on the other end.

Apparently, Kak Myra is also expecting their second baby, due this coming July. Ish, my heart goes out to Kak Myra, Damia and baby….

I may not be Abg Bitee’s admirer any longer since eon’s ago, but he’s still a friend... a nostalgic kinda friend. He was also my first sifu when it comes to Architecture: he was the first to teach me the “Form Follows Function” concept in architecture. All in correspondence, can you believe that. It’s like, there was this unique and unexplained bond between us, walaupun di mata dia I am always the “budak tembam” from school. Heh heh.

Ish, it felt like as if he would still reply as he would always do if I were to send him an sms to ask how he was doing... sigh.

Today's my 1st baby bro 's 24th Birthday. Big bro to Udi, him. Farhi’s the first boy in the family, hence obviously the apple of everyone’s eyes when he was born.

Adik-adik... Celi, Udi, Azhar, Said, Farhi & Da

Umi & Ayah actually had a choice on Farhi’s birthdate ~ either 31st Dec or the 1st Jan. Since Ayah wanted his first boy to be the manja one, Ayah chose Farhi to be born on the 31st Dec instead. Man that choice made a huge difference between the two dates in two different years, ok.

Farhi was a late-bloomer when he was small ~ he could only read when he was almost at the end of Primary One, with the teacher providing Umi reading-cards to tutor Farhi every single night. And boy was he chubby too!!! He could eat seven tungking ayam goreng sekali ngap; sometimes, he even had nutella as part of his lauk! Gila budak tu, heh heh.

But he grew up, not only being one of the top students in MRSM Jasin, but also manage to do express matrix in UTM, and able to score well enough to transfer credits and skip the first year for his Chemical Engineering degree! Oh I remember how he cried for not having the strength to finish his degree, but he still manage to score Second Degree Upper. How lah he does it???

And, oh ya… he’s all slim and slender and handsome now. Like Lelaki Metroseksual gitu. And now that he’s concentrating on his work as a small-time I.D Designer cum contractor, his muscle definition is all buffing-up well, too! Hebat, gitu!

Farhi’s a sensitive and soft-spoken guy who can be aloof the first time you knew him. But once he feels he has good vibes about you, then he could be the best and trusted mate one could ever find. In all my life as his sister, I’ve never seen him pukul binatang apatah lagi orang; very very very rarely raise his voice when he’s angry; and will cry silently whenever he sees any of his family members suffer. He’s so reliable… he and his ‘brother’ Said were the one yang sangat berpenat lelah preparing my room and the house prior to and post-wedding of my Do last year.

Oh did I mention how a gentleman my brother is??? There was this one time when he was 19, I think, and had his friends over in Bangi. They planned to go out along with this one girl that he had a crush on. The girl, cute and donning tudung bulat, also lives in Bangi. Farhi had me driving him to the stall where the girl’s dad work, and minta izin the father to bawa the girl out with other friends! Bapa mana lah tak cair… terus the dad said “…boleh… tapi jangan lupa solat ya ‘Nak…”!!!

Ish, again, I could write a book on him and the rest of my adik-adik, lah… but all in all, I just wanted to tell him how proud I am with everything that he’s achieved, big or small; and how proud I am of how he’s grown up to be and who he’s become; that I always have faith in whatever he puts his heart to.

Aban, you may now be at the crossorads of your life, but I know, with Allah’s will, UmiAyah’s prayers and your will-power plus friends and us who believe in you, you will succeed, insyaAllah!

So, anyhow...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AHIIIIIIII !!!!!!!

I’m proud of you for standing in the things you believe in, Abang Farhi. Be strong, mkay?

Thursday, December 28, 2006

The operator of the popular LDP highway is making a healthy profit and it can do without a drastic increase in the toll rates, charges the DAP. More* 43 percent rise in profit* ‘Don’t wait till we go to streets’

A minimum of 60sen hike at the LDP highway come this 1st Jan 2007. From RM1.00 to RM1.60. That's a minimum of facking 60% hike, L&G. Ingat tu ya. A MINIMUM of SIXTY percent.

Monday, December 25, 2006

He's a anak bongsu yang tak perangai macam anak bongsu. Very rajin, especially di dapur. Very very very very likeable... mana-mana dia pergi, ada je dapat kawan-kawan perempuan baik adik-adik atau kakak-kakak yang in turn become his admirers. Even my dad listens to him more than he does to us, ever. I suppose, Udi's got that certain aura of influencing and convincing people easily.

He and his Abang Farhi are very very close. I could only recall once that they ever got into a fist-fight: masa tu Farhi in Std.6 and was in great stress to finish up his Dinosaur Scrap-book project for school, while Udi was in Std.4. One late evening, secara tak sengaja Udi terganggu work-path Farhi in the study-room downstairs. Suddenly all of us upstairs terdengar some huge commotion and Udi screaming angrily in tears at his brother. All of us rushed down and nampak Farhi and Udi tengah bergumpal atas lantai, Farhi silently crying sebab marah adik dia ganggu. My dad being the punisher, tanpa usul periksa terus rotan dua-dua.

I reckon, that was our first time seeing Farhi snapped. He has been such a cool Abang to Udi, and when that happened, it spelled out warning to us all. Tapi them being close, soon after the fight, Udi and Farhi dah berbaik dah. Malam tu jugak!

But the advantages of him being forgetful??? He forgets any hurt or pain easily, hence forgives instantly. Maybe that's why my dad listens to him, kot. And he's the only one yang boleh terima and berbaik-baik dengan both his sisters' exes. hehe

Like his brother, he has that creative streak in him. Them two and the sister Celi used to make colourful plasticin houses and gardens on white polistyrene boxes; they used to make cincin out of unused wire and sell them to friends; and oh ya... Udi was also juara khat bahagian daerah, woo. He had that streak from our grand-uncle, Tok Su Dir, yang memang pandai khat. I remembered helping him putting up his 99 Nama Allah for a khat exhibition... yes, all 99 individual placards: he wrote the names, while I outlined and shadowed them. And he and the Abang Farhi used to make extra money by making stage props at primary school... with the help of the Kakak Tua, of course, hahahahaha.

I remembered a week before his UPSR exams, Udi would wake up extra early every morning to baca The Yasseen right after Subuh before getting ready to school. And that boy also scolded us everytime kalau kami beli makanan terlebih untuk buka puasa... like Ustaz-ustaz gitu, hehe! Back then too, he was the only one who doesn't listen to music, even! Tapi sekarang.... sama-sama hantu, ngengengeeee.

I swear I could write an autobiography on all of them. Oh have I mentioned that I just don’t have enough words to describe how they are all my most pride and joy??? I think I have, but I don't mind saying it again. I love you lot so so so much, okay. Not as much as a dog loves a bone, but enough to berganti nyawa if I have to.

So, anyhow...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UDIIIIIIII !!!!!!!

Here's our universe-loads of love and prayers and kisses and heart to you... semoga hidup Udi juga akan sentiasa diberkati Allah s.w.t... and stay you!!! Hope the winter in Bath would not be too cold for you to celebrate your Day!!!!

For our first anniversary gift? I bought Abang a pair of nice formal black working shoes (the first pair I ever bought for Abang!)... and in return, he bought me a nice formal black working hand-bag (not the first one though, hehehehehe)... almost the same price, gitu. heh.

And since aku almost very rarely dedicate lagu ke Abang (where as he has, on the contrary, put together a compilation of love songs for me masa zaman kejar-mengejar dulu)... nah, 'Bang, untuk Abang.

Thank you, for loving me, for being so patient with me and the clan, and for still being here... I Love You!

I can be an asshole of the grandest kind I can withhold like it's going out of style I can be the moodiest baby and you've never met anyone who is as negative as I am sometimes

I am the wisest woman you've ever met I am the kindest soul with whom you've connectedI have the bravest heart that you've ever seen And you've never met anyone Who's as positive as I am sometimes.

You see everything, you see every part You see all my light and you love my dark You dig everything of which I'm ashamed There's not anything to which you can't relate And you're still here...

I blame everyone else, not my own partaking My passive-aggressiveness can be devastating I'm terrified and mistrusting And you've never met anyone as, As closed down as I am sometimes.

You see everything, you see every part You see all my light and you love my dark You dig everything of which I'm ashamed There's not anything to which you can't relate And you're still here...

What I resist, persists, and speaks louder than I know What I resist, you love, no matter how low or high I go

I'm the funniest woman you've ever known I am the dullest woman you've ever known I'm the most gorgeous woman you've ever known And you've never met anyone as, as everything as I am sometimes.

You see everything, you see every part You see all my light and you love my dark You dig everything of which I'm ashamed There's not anything to which you can't relate And you're still here...

Friday, December 22, 2006

I think, growing-up into adulthood in a super-possessive family is extremely difficult for us siblings.

Mind you though, we have a super-woman Mom who worked by day but woke-up at 5am every single morning to check our schoolwork and then make us breakfast and lunch; came back home to prepare dinner before shuttling off for another assignments at times (hello, Bangi-K.L is jauh what with the jam, okay); took her nap in the study room every night just to keep her kids company while doing their schoolwork; ironed our school clothes and her husband’s working clothes on Saturday or Sunday nights; did the weekly visitation to any of her kids yang masuk asrama be it in Malacca, Lembah Beringin or nearby Cheras (yes, weekly. ‘Coz both she and dad tak sampai hati tak jenguk anak every week).

And we have a dad who’s a damn tough disciplinarian who physically or mentally punish us when things go wrong, big or small, but at the same time loves us to bits, showers us with material conveniences, and we never never been lack of affection and food (Oh, dah tua-tua ni, he's cooled down so so much on the punishing, by the way. Alhamdulillah!)

They trained us to be very very useful around the house, no excuses apart from sakit or perlu study. 'Twas a good training, though... relatives and friends love us being at their homes 'coz we are all ringan tulang. Uncles, Aunts and gramps look highly upon my parents for instilling such values... love and respect among siblings, and always always around at hand.

Little do these people know that we the siblings are expected to be superhumans, or even more.

However, we are forever their babies,you know... forever. Forever expected to go dependant on them and they would be happily provide ‘coz dependency validates their existence and their being. Without our dependency, they feel useless... at least that’s what we were made to understand.

Man, it was difficult to not be their babies and grow out of it... for each and everyone of us adik-beradik. Little small issues would be overblown and exaggerated which eventually would make us sound like we are some anak derhaka or something. Comparisons with other kids or cousins (whose parents are treating similar issues or situation differently but somewhat more logical and very much less emotional) will be met with baffling amount of unjustified frustrations, tears, anguish and stress… it’s just beyond explanation.

We were brought up to understand that these are the things what most parents are made of, which is partially true and sometimes worse. But in our case, so much so, all of us most of the times would be laden with super guilt-feeling to grow-up, grow old and mature. One moment all of us are like one big huge super happy family yang semua orang nak jadi part of; another, everyone in the family jadi highly-charged drama queens and kings with uncontrollable emotions over some plain ordinary issues.

We ‘mature-up’ wondering… is this normal? Or just plain habitual?

As I am the eldest with a good 7 to 11-year gap between me and my siblings, I've promised myself years ago that I would be the best kakak and referral-point to my siblings when they grow up. ‘Coz when I was ‘maturing-up’ and learning about life, I had no referral point(s). There’s this big huge generation gap between me and my folks ~ emotionally I been in and out of trouble God knows so many times and was in dire need to be helped and consulted upon, but I had no one whom I fully trusted that I could turn to and understand the situations I was in and see them level-headedly.

A few times I even felt like quitting life. I would be questioning whether I ni pembawak malang, attracting nonsense and more pain, pain and pain. Some may resort to cigarettes, alcohol or even drugs in times like this. Alhamdulillah, for some reason, I chose not to. And there’s always Allah, and a few really really close souls who’d be coming to the rescue at the 11th hour (thank you my cousin Abg.Yuz; friends Kak Fairuz, Kak Siti & Remo; and my greatest Sifu on Life ever, Mr. SM Voon of NVT Architects ~ thank you, Sir, for your wisdom and patience!!!).

I promised myself that I would not want my adik-adik to go through life alone, though I realized most of the times I failed in that area. At times, you just build walls to protect your healing inner-self that you tend to act selfishly even to your loved ones. I know I would be there for them whenever they needed me and I think they know they could always count on me, but I know too that am not ‘there’ enough.

Adik-adik apparently grow up to be very very well-mannered, educated, sopan and most loveable, alhamdulillah. Apart from my husband, I just don’t have enough words to describe how they are all my most pride and joy. Even though at times they were close to succumbing to life’s failures when making life decisions, but I’ve witnessed how strong-willed each of them has become.

We rejoice brashly over each other’s achievements. We also get hurt and cry quietly & silently whenever we see the other siblings get hurt and cry. .. which have been quite a lot and very much life-rendering.

And so when I read entries such as this on my brother’s blog, I know I’ve not been a very good sister as what I’ve promised myself to become. I’m sorry, Dearest. I just felt like taking all of you away, heal you from all the past anguish and hurt. Don’t you just wish sometimes you could reboot your brains and start life fresh and anew???

***

I read The Sun yesterday about Bi-Polar Disorder: Manic Depression. Apparently, it can be genetic, and a lot of famous persons suffer from this, namely Robin Williams, Adolf Hitler, Van Gogh, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway to name a few… how ‘bout that??? Listening to Alanis Morissette, I strongly believe she’s one, too. Heh.

Reading on further prompted me to search websites on the matter. I sms-ed my siblings on the article and websites. The disorder explains the family so much. I don’t think it’s so much of a disease, but an uncontrolled situation which, over a long period of unattended tendencies may cause extremities of euphoric happiness or unexplained depression. I bet ya a lot of you guys out there suffer the same. Read here. And if in any case that anything that you read applies to you or family or friends, then you’ll understand a hell lot of the situations better.

Which is what the case of my sibling and I yesterday ~ for once, we understand our predicaments better. And we acknowledge that we may need help. For the sake of sanity, especially to those beloved like Abang...

Dengan berat hatinya, aku terpaksa melepaskan my current young tenant, Umar, Su and anak-anak, to move out this 31 Dec since Umar & Su dah dapat kerja di Ampang. They've rented the house since Dec 2004 and have been very very lovely tenants. So far tak pernah langsung menyusahkan aku, would pay me promptly on time (kalau tak prompt, Umar would inform me via e-mail), and the kids being so lovely... aku je not a really good landlady. The last I visited them was last year May, kot. Teruk, kan? But that's because I trust them to take care of my house and aku tak de sebab nak ganggu dorang kat rumah tu melainkan when I'm needed je. So, in a way, I'm equally a lovely landlady gak la, bukan ka? hahahaha.

Anyhow, kot la any of you out there who would be interested in renting out the place as of this 1st Jan 2007, or know of anybody who is searching for a place, do tolong uar-uarkan, ya?? Tenchu!!!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

I'll see if I could bring back the x-rays that they did on Adi and post the photo here. Aiyok people, the ta*k inside there was like melingkar-lingkar along the intestine for almost 20cm long, in 7 big pieces!!!

And he will repeat the same thing every three seconds for a few minutes. Masa tu, I would have to kiss him on his nose an average of 20 times per minute, kalau tidak dia tak moh tengok TV. Aku cium Abang sehari pun tak sebanyak tu, heh heh.

Hari Ahad, Abang kerja jadi tinggal aku seorang kat rumah. Aku risaukan Adi yang teramat. Vet Bangi only opens at 2pm on Sundays. Ish. Pukul 4suku, aku call vet and talked to that Dr.Emo. Aku tak pernah bercakap dengan doc yang macam tu: dia sungguh malas nak jawab soalan-soalan aku padahal in the first place she should be explaining to me all her diagnostic procedures and her steps in taking care of Adi's condition even before I started asking her questions!

Tengah dia emo-emo explain kat aku, line putus. I just couldn't be bothered to call the place back and instead called my Vet Cousin, Kakak, for a second opinion. Kakak, yang dah memang blacklist that place, told me that from how I explained back at what had happened, the Doc sounded sungguh kurrrrenngggg profesional and etika, hence encouraged me to keluarkan Adi and hantar ke Vet Tmn Segar instead.

Aiyoh, Vet Tmn Segar tutup pukul 5pm on Sundays. Any emergencies would be charged an extra RM100. Boarding is double than that paid kat Vet Bangi.

Hmm. Tak pa lah. At least hati aku senang sikit. It's like you're torn between going to the expensive private hospital but with personal care, to the low-(or no-)cost gomen hospital and with less-than-personal care.

Tapi sekurang-kurangnya, Dr.Jonathan (yang attended our on-call) siap call aku personally dari hospital at 10pm to tell me the procedures he's done and his findings and what-nots... at the price of me feeling so darn guilty for sedap-sedap catching the CSIs kat rumah while Dr.Jon attending to my tucing at the vet. But wait se-minit, he and the hospital will eventually be getting a-quarter of my month's pay...so, what the heck. I should not feel guilty lah kan... or should I...????

Nah...

***

I spoke to Dr.Jon tadi. He says "...Adi's still not out of danger yada yada yada and I'd still need to do this yada yada yada and in four days' time I may have to xray him again to see whether his faeces are all out before we can decide if he can be sent home for you to care for him personally yada yada yada...".

In another four days' time??? Aiyak. That's probably another 2 kali ganda than Adi's total admittance in Vet Bangi. Hmm, dugaan tu.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

It’s Abang’s working weekend, and I decided to go the office too to clear off my tray. Ya, ya, alone, in my office, with 3 roh tentera Jepun. Heh. Not very funny now, innit.

So I put on my DVD “Robin Williams Live On Broadway” that I bought sometime around last week but never had the chance to really sit down and watch it. On with the DVD, not watching but listening instead, while me clearing off clutters.

At one part, he was goofing around about being drunk with the Irish, the Japanese, and then the Scottish. The last one caught my ear (for very obvious reasons) and I found it hilarious since he actually got the accent almost right and then getting the F-word in every other sentence… exactly miming a typical drunk Scots!

And here’s what Mr. Williams thinks how golf was born in Scotland… out from a drunken Scots:

***

Here's my idea for a f*ckn’ sport.A knock of ball and a gopher hole.

Oo you mean like pool?

F*ck off pool! No’ (“not”) with a straight stick… but wi’ (“with”) little f*cked-up stick!! I whack tha ball and it goes in a gopher hole!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Before the old rooms in this space were hacked clean, ada satu bilik kebal kat belakang which was attached to the toilets yang mungkin pernah digunakan as both freezer room (masa zaman Restaurant) and document room (masa zaman Library). I tell you, sungguh menyeramkan area situ. Gelap semacam.

Selepas all the hacking, we used skim-coated and light-painted gypsum-board as partitions at this area to accommodate stores and bilik-bilik solat. But even with the light-weight structures and light-coloured walls, area kat belakang tu still rasa seram semacam.

One day, mak Intan datang lawat Intan di office. Mak Intan ni tukang urut. Best woh kalau mak Intan urut. So you can say lah that her mom has that bit of clairvoyance in her.

Since her visit, mak Intan never said anything about the office until the day when she came over to my house to urut me and I asked her about any being she detected at the office. She said she saw three of them. Macam tentera Jepun dulu. Tahu-tahu je lah, tanah ni dulu kan hutan... tapi insyaAllah dia tak ganggu kita, makcik kata.

So kadang-kadang kalau ada bebudak masih lagi tertinggal kat pejabat, tengah buat kerja or just plain stranded waiting for the rain to subside, maka he or she will buka all the doors to the toilets or the bilik solat bila perlu guna bilik-bilik tu.

Friday, December 01, 2006

One of the earliest things we learnt during the first term of the 1st year Architecture course in the Edinburgh College of Art was about European history & art and art techniques.

One of the syllabus was "Trompe L'oeil" and Anamorphosis. Aku rasa, kursus senibina kat M'sia tak belajar sangat pasal teknik ni. Teknik-teknik ni are more renowned in the Europe because they are widely used in European paintings and murals in historical buildings to give false depth to boring surfaces or even to deceive the eyes on the spaces.

Aku sebenarnya dah lupa langsung pasal subject ni, until today, when I read an article written by my friend Fareed Hamzah of Cempaka Schools in the latest Majalah Arkitek. His school had a Trompe L’oeil program recently and they won themselves into the Malaysia Book of Records as being the 'biggest 3D-mural in Malaysia'.

We both exchanged sms… me puji-puji the mural (tengok la gambar kat bawah ni!) and his article, and both of us end-up missing Edinburgh a hell lot…

Anyhow, new lessons for you lot. Trompe L’oeil and Anamorphosis. Great for kids’ and students’ projects in the kindies, schools, unis or even at home. 'Coz aku pasti sangat budak-budak kita ni sangat talented tapi sangat kurang exposure dan galakan.

Trompe l'oeil on wall in Narbonne, France

Trompe l'oeil near Place des Terreaux in Lyon, with a vélo'v station in front of it. Photo taken by Steve Bennett, 23/08/05.